Gone With The Wind

Edited Again: My brother and sis in law are still without power. Thankfully, they, like us, have a gas water heater so they are able to bath and shower. They had a nice dinner at Mom's last night. We have much of their refrigerated items in our house and Mom took their freezer things so they will not have to throw anything out. I have been watching Boo (my nephew) all week as his babysitter is without power and his school was closed. Grace went back to school today, albeit on a 2 hour delay. She missed her first art class at the rec center as they are still without electricity. I did some shopping yesterday and gosh were the shelves picked over. They were re-stocking as fast as they could as each place had to throw away entire freezer and refrigerated cases. I saw so much more damage while out and it is just so humbling.

We have friends who expect to be without power for many more days and

some schools will be closed all week. The Governor was here yesterday and toured the area. He stated that The Miami Valley will most definitely suffer huge financial losses due to this storm. Some businesses are still closed and I can only imagine the monetary hit they are enduring.

But, all in all, we are lucky. Although Ohio seeing such an event is extremely rare, we must remember those who are faced with so much more...those in TX and the surrounding states. Those in Cuba and many of the islands who sustained such great loss from this storm. Bless them all...

And to our friends who live in Texas, some of which will be without power for weeks, I send love and hugs.

Edited to add: Our telephone came back on tonight. How guilty I feel to have all our utilities when so many here (and around the nation) do not. Bless those that are out day and night, even braving the harsh weather conditions, to restore those things that we often take for granted...electricity, water, telephone. My heartfelt thanks to them all.

Like many of you, I know how it feels to be without such services for days and days. Been there, done that and have the much too small T-shirt to prove it. *grin* It is never easy and yes, it does make you appreciate how comfortable most of us are here in this nation. We repaired our fence and the shutters will be re-hung tomorrow. The porch will remain unadorned until we re-stain it this weekend. I can then begin having fun with Fall once again. Oh, we did find some bits and bobs of my poor wreath. A pice of yarrow in an evergreen bush, some ribbon in a neighbor's mum plant. The rest truly is "gone with the wind"!

Dayton's historic Old Courthouse lost

much of it's roof in Sunday's wind storm Believe it or not, this fumble fingers actually tried to, somewhat, re-create the wreath from the previous post. Yup, I did. Now, it was my intention to photograph it on Sunday afternoon, all aglow in the late day sun, as it hung on the front door. My mistake. I piddled around the house, after church, doing this and that. We were going to see "The Women" and go out to dinner with my friend *T* and my Mother...well, those *were* the plans. Then Hurricane Ike decided to wreck havoc on the area, our plans, our house and my wreath. *sniff* In fact, as I type this, my daughter and son are looking for it. Or, should I say, the remnants of it. And the sweet "Bloom" sign (beautifully created by the talented Donna) that hitched a ride on a gust, and, well...you get the idea right? During the height of the wind storm, Bill and Dan removed the front porch wicker shelf, rabbits,the plates and pretties from that shelf. Bill and Dan also cut down the beautiful Clematis from our front yard arch as it was causing it to lean heavily. Bill was afraid we would lose the arch itself. Oh but those blossoms were so fragrant and pretty! It makes me a little sad when I look out now and see a totally naked arch. Uh huh. Naked. Totally. Not a branch or bough or leaf left. Yes, I do know that makes me sound frivolous but there it is. *sigh*

2 of our shutters also flew away. We found one 4 houses away and the other across the street. I guess they just wanted to see more of the neighborhood. We also lost parts of our picket fence but did find those. *Whew* Yes, thankful for small favors after all. But do understand! I am NOT complaining. We still have power in my neighborhood, no telephone, but we do have electricity. The water pressure is compromised but should be fully on line again soon. Mom's electricity came back on in the last hour but my brother and sis in law's is still out for now. My nephew is with us. His school, as well as most school in the entire area, was closed today. Boo's babysitter is also without power. Cars lined up at any open fast food restaurant today. There were long lines of people waiting to buy bags of ice, the stores quickly sold all of their battery and flashlight stock. There were also long lines at the few open gas stations. Hospitals, blood banks and nursing facilities were/or still are on back up power. And yes, the Governor has declared a state of emergency for the areas hit. Yippee! *sigh* Should I have taken photos of me making the wreath? Of course! Hindsight is 20/20 after all!But, believe me, it was not purty. The *during* part that is. Still, the finished product did not look too bad! I did it MY way, with just a nod to the Victoria Magazine creation. Bill liked it. My next door neighbor really liked it. Heck, even *I* liked it. Will I make another? We will see...but first I have to clean up all the branches and Clematis boughs and the plastic plant pots (Not mine) and the shredded leaves in our yard. Then we get to replace the shutters and fence pieces. Oh well...nothing compared to this sort of damage is it? This is Young's Dairy's restaurant, a favorite spot for us. But this is NOTHING compared to the damage that the people in Texas recently suffered. My heart goes out to them all. For years and years, we lived along a US coastline and became used to dealing with Tropical storms. I know what horrific damage they can inflict. I have ridden out a few lesser Hurricanes and evacuated from several huge storms. I have seen the aftermath and it is wrenching. Bless those who have lost a loved one, their homes, their properly and their peace of mind. Bless those who are there to help and protect and rescue the citizens. This wind was quite the anomaly for folks in Ohio. We often get the tail end of a tropical event blow through but nothing like this. One of our local meteorologists said we had all experienced a "once in a lifetime" occurrence for Ohioans. There was nothing to predict it would be this bad. Some areas of the Midwest received a lot of rain. Our version of Ike contained little rain but did pack Hurricane force winds. No one was expecting it. Thankfully, we usually stay prepared for nasty weather events. I always keep bottled water, non perishable food, batteries, flashlights, a battery operated TV and radio and, well, the list goes on an on. It doesn't make it oh so sweet but a bit more palatable all the same. Our area was alive with all manner of Fall events, festivals and concerts. When the 74 + MPH wind gusts began, there were some injuries. Sadly, there was also some loss of life due to fallen trees. Some homes and stores have major roof damage. Many trees are down, siding ripped off of homes, traffic lights and street signs down, even a popular restaurant destroyed by fire. Some roads are still impassable and many homes and businesses will be without electricity for several more days. The reactions of local folks, as captured by the news stations, runs between tearful, stomach twisting fright and dance yourself silly exhilaration! Some seemed thrilled to have experienced such a storm, some said they could now better understand, albeit they have sampled just a small taste, how frightening it must be to live through a Hurricane. One gentleman, who has lived in the Miami Valley every one of his 75 years , remarked that he had "NEVER seen anything like this!" He then commented, "Oh my. It's like God Himself and old Mother Nature had a big disagreement. Boy I surely do hope they got their problems all worked out!" I had to smile at the analogy. I take off my hat to all those suffering loss in Texas, LA, MS and the other states affected by the recent storms. Bless them all. Love and Hugs,

Susie Q

~Photos are from the Dayton Daily News online. Images taken from various local photographers~